This document discusses the types and causes of anxiety in second language learning. It defines trait anxiety, state anxiety, and situation-specific anxiety. Situation-specific anxiety can be further divided into facilitating anxiety and debilitating anxiety. Some common causes of language learning anxiety discussed are low self-esteem, social status differences, fear of losing self-identity, strict classroom environments, presentations and tests, and fear of making mistakes. Studies have shown anxiety can negatively impact language learning performance.

1. Anxiety
Scovel

2. Presented by:
Youshaib Alam
M.Phil. English Linguistics
1st semester
The Islamia University of Bahawalpur.

3. “A stage of apprehension, a vague fear that
is only indirectly associated with its objects.
It is generated through the arousal of the
limbic system, the primitive, subcortal of the
cerebrum, which plays an important role in
many kinds of human enterprises, including
communication”.
Scovel

4. “It is a distinct complex of self-perceptions,
beliefs, feelings, and behaviors related to
classroom language learning arising from
uniqueness of the language learning process”.
Cope and Horwitz

5. Types of Anxiety

6. Anxiety may be classified into following types.
• Trait anxiety
• State anxiety
• Situation specified anxiety

7. Trait Anxiety
• According to Scovel trait anxiety is “a more permanent
predisposition to be anxious.
• It is related to learner’s personality.
• This type of anxiety can be stable with the passage of time.

8. State Anxiety
• Spielberger defines state anxiety as “an apprehension that is
experiences at a particular moment in a time as a response to a
definite situation”.
• It is a combination of trait and situation-specific anxiety.
• It is unstable type of anxiety.

9. Situation-specific Anxiety
• This type of anxiety is aroused in a specific
kind of situation or event such as public
speaking, examination or class participation.

10. Situational-specific Anxiety can be further divided into
two kinds.
• Facilitating anxiety
• Debilitating anxiety

11. Facilitating Anxiety
• Facilitating anxiety motivates the learner to fight the new
learning tasks.
• It gears the learner emotionally for approval behavior.
• E.g. students works hard and passes the exams.

12. Debilitating Anxiety
• Debilitating anxiety motivates the learner to flee the new
leaning tasks.
• It stimulates the individual emotionally to adopt avoidance
behavior.
• E.g. run away from exams.

13. Study of Situational Anxiety
in SLA byYoung and Horwitz

14. • The study of situational anxiety has received the
attention ofYoung and Horwitz in SLA research.
• They have carried it out by mean of correlational
studies involving measure of anxiety and learning
(type D research) and through diary study (type B
research).
• In both cases research shows that learners
frequently experience anxiety.

15. • The diary studies indicate that learners’
competitive nature can act as anxiety.
• One of the key questions of this research is:
What effect does anxiety have on learning?

16. Bailey’s diaries research

17. • In 1983 Bailey analyzed the diaries of 11 learners
and found that they became more anxious when
the compared themselves with other learners in
the class and found themselves less proficient.
• She noted that as the learners perceived
themselves becoming more proficient.

18. • They became better able to compete and their
anxiety decreased.
• Bailey identifies other sources of anxiety
including tests and learners perceived
relationship with teachers.

19. Teacher threatening questions

20. Ellis reported that some of their diarist found teachers’ questions
threatening. E.g. one of his subject commented:
“I was quite frightened when asked question again. I
don’t know why; the teacher does not frightened
me, but my mind is blocked when I am asked
questions. I fear lest I give wrong answer and will
discourage the teacher as well as be the laughing
stock of the class. Anyway I felt really stupid and
helpless in class”.

21. Gardner and MacIntyre hypothesis

22. Stage Type of anxiety Effect on learning
Beginner Very little-restricted to stage
anxiety.
None.
Post-
beginner
Situation anxiety develops if
learner develops negative
expectations based on bad
learning experiences.
Learner is expected to be
nervous and performs
poorly.
Later Poor performance and
continued bad learning
experiences result in
increased anxiety.
Continued poor
performance.

23. Reasons of Anxiety

24. Self-concept or self-esteem
• Self-concept has been used in much same meanings of self-
esteem and it is strongly linked by anxiety.
• People with low self-esteem worry about what other think.
• They are concerned with pleasing others.
• That is what causes anxiety in a lot of people.

25. Social status
• A study tells us that unequal status between students is a source
of anxiety for students.
• Though some students have very good command on second
language but they always feel inferior while talking to their
superiors.
• This difference also creates anxiety in students.

26. Self-identity
• Speaking a foreign language is disturbing for some students
because of the fear that they will lose self-identity.
• Study tells us that they have fear of losing their self-identity
which is deeply rooted in the first language.
• Some students become surprised when they hear their voice
while speaking second language.
• It sounds like another person.
• They find it disturbing because it is another identity that they do
not know.

27. Gender
• Some students also find gender relating anxiety while
communicating in foreign language.
• Many students feel anxiety while are communicating with
opposite sex.
• But this can only happen to those cultures where there is
segregation in study of male and females.

28. Strict and formal class room environment:-
• Some students think strict and formal classroom environment is
also a cause of anxiety for students.
• According to them class room is a place where their mistakes are
noticed and their differences are pointed out.
• So this thing indicates that a teacher should recognize that a
classroom and his behavior should not be anxiety provoking
because students feel more stressed under unfriendly and strict
environment.

29. Presentation in class
• Some students think discussion like short talk or presentations
are the cause of high anxiety in students.
• According to the students speaking in front of whole class or
public causes anxiety for most of the learners.
• Some students try to learn or remember what they want to
present.
• By doing this they create another pressure for themselves
because they cannot remember everything.

30. Fear of making mistakes
• Fear of making mistakes is another factor of anxiety in students.
• Most of the students feel afraid or even panic because of the fear
of making mistakes in front of others.
• These students feel themselves awkward, foolish and
incomplete in front of their fellows.
• So that is the reason many students do not participate in class
room discussion.

31. Tests or Exams
• There are many students who feel test anxiety.
• In test a student has to remember many things but sometimes
they forget them while taking a test.
• When students realize that they have made a mistake then
anxiety is produced.

32. Conclusion
• In a nutshell, we can say that no doubt learning a language is a
frightful experience and Most of the time it causes anxiety.
Some students, who are very good in other subjects, can
experience anxiety in learning second language. This causes a
mental block to new information. But teacher can play an
important role in overcoming a learner’s anxiety. A teacher may
create a stress free environment, encourage a student, think
positively towards learner or overlook learner’s mistakes.
Parents can also play an important role in overcoming an
anxiety.

33. Thanks For
Listening